Statoil Subsea installs Mobile cantilever

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Statoil Subsea installs Mobile cantilever

Statoil, the Norwegian multinational oil and gas company, has recently installed Mobile cantilever racking for the storage of pipes at their warehouses at Vestbase, Norway.

The Vestbase hub was built in 1982 and has evolved into a regional centre for business, trade and industry, by providing primary infrastructure such as administrative and warehouse facilities to more than 60 contractors, suppliers and service providers, including Statoil who make Vestbase their home.

The collaboration between Statoil Subsea and Constructor began in the early 90's, and has over the years resulted in Constructor supplying various storage solutions to Statoil Subsea’s many warehouses at Vestbase.

Statoil Subsea stores alot of equipment, such as "workover risers" which are very strong pipes. These pipes run down from the rig to the ocean floor to where the production welds are maintained.

Operations Manager Bjarne Brunsvik says "We are very careful about the quality of these pipes as they function as a barrier between the weld and the surroundings. The pipes are extremely expensive to produce and they are used and re-used several times over time. It is therefore critical that we are able to systematise the handling and maintenance of these pipes which are tested on a regular basis, both when they are stored in the cantilever racking and when they are moved to the test basin ".

The requirement:

The previous storage solution for these expensive pipes had been to store them in the baskets which were designed to transport them to and from the offshore field, or they were lying unsorted on multi-level grids awaiting inspection. The overall goal was to obtain order and ensure full and easy access to each pipe.

The solution:

The pipes are up to 13 metres long are now stored in cantilever racking installed on mobile bases. These bases run on rails, cast into the concrete floor. The bases are activated from a control box on the front of the base or by remote control. The bases move to one side to open the requested aisle.

The solution provides full access to each pipe which is handled by 4-way-truck and an overhead crane.

Bjarne Brunsvik says: "We have managed to obtain many more advantages with this solution: We have gained quick access to each individual pipe and the pipes are now stored indoors, making the inspection much simpler "